Mass Effect 5 may be BioWare's last resort after Dragon Age: The Veilguard failure. Devs reveal what led to game's downfall

It's been almost eight months since the launch of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. While the title initially attracted a large group of players, it didn't hold up in the long run. The game ultimately didn't meet Electronic Arts' expectations and was deemed a failure.

Jason Schreier presented the behind-the-scenes reasons for this downfall in a new report for Bloomberg. The renowned journalist spoke with over 20 developers who worked on The Veilguard. They revealed what they believe to be the biggest mistakes made by BioWare studio.

1. One of the reasons for the failure was said to be the long development period, stretching over 10 years. During this time, the concept of the project changed several times - originally, The Veilguard was supposed to be a single-player adventure. However, at the peak of multiplayer popularity, the company bosses decided that the new installment of Dragon Age should also provide gameplay for multiple people. In the end, nothing came out of it, so they returned to the original idea, adapting certain elements of the co-op mode to single-player.
2. The original idea was for the title to have a "mocking" character, which would set it apart from the previous installments of the series. Furthermore, the player wouldn't make important choices, but that changed in the later stages of production, and fans got "more serious" options to choose from.
3. Developers were also complaining to Schreier about the inclusion of the team responsible for Mass Effect in The Veilguard project in 2023. Mark Darrah, a veteran of the Dragon Age series, has already talked about this.
4. The development of the latest installment of DA was also hindered by a voice actors' strike. This limited the writers' ability to create dialogue and scenes.

As a result, the BioWare studio lost a lot of money on development, caused itself many problems, and also had to deal with layoffs. As Schreier reports, the devs of Dragon Age are responsible for about 5% of Electronic Arts' annual revenue. So can the giant decide to sell this company? Let's keep in mind that work is ongoing on Mass Effect 5, which might be the final lifeline for BioWare.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

October 31, 2024

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• BioWare
• EA / Electronic Arts
• Dragon Age (franchise)
• Jason Schreier